Angeles Analysis – Game 1

There are no moral victories in the playoffs.

Sorry. Those are the rules.

So, even if the Los Angeles Kings gamely kept clawing their back in their playoff opener only to fall by a 7-4 count to the Edmonton Oilers, there will be no measure of comfort felt by the Kings players or coaching staff.

But there is another equally important rule that must be considered after such a disappointing start to this playoff season; it’s only one game.

It may feel, for the moment, like somehow this loss is bigger than that simple, narrow 1-0 series deficit because that’s how Game 1’s always feel.

The anticipation, the build-up, always means the first game of a series, and especially the opening game of the first round as this game was, is imbued with greater meaning.

Win or lose the challenge is not to let the outcome overpower you.

No doubt this Game 1 loss will feel weightier because of how things unraveled in specific areas of the game which are normally the Kings’ strengths.

The Oilers scored three times on four power play opportunities and Connor McDavid was a magician all night, collecting five assists as he and his linemates seemingly raced unimpeded from zone to zone. It’s the first time a player has collected five assists in an NHL playoff game since 1998. Three of those assists were primary assists on Zach Hyman goals.

“Things that have been and are strengths of ours are penalty killing and limiting rush chances. It’s what we do well,” said Head Coach Jim Hiller after the Oilers had sent their fans home with a Game 1 win. “We didn’t do either of those well tonight, that’s obvious. We’ll have to fix that.”

So it’s not just the loss but the manner in which the game was lost that stung even more from a group that believed they had the game plan for another strong start to a series against the Oilers.

“That’s not our motto, that’s not the way we play,” defenseman Drew Doughty said. “It’s frustrating. We’ve just got to put that game in the past and get back to doing what we do best and that’s good two-way hockey. Yeah. that one’s over.”

He’s right.

The fact remains that as discouraging as this outing will be in the moment, it is the nature of playoff hockey that it will be forgotten the moment the puck drops on Game 2. It must be if the Kings are going to rally against the Oilers.

“It’s a seven-game series, you’ve got win first to four,” Doughty said. “We’re down 1-0 but we can easily make it 1-1 next game. We’ve got to put that one behind us, we’ve got to learn from what we did wrong and then fix the things we did wrong and bring them into next game. Just have a short memory and be ready to win the next one.”

This third-straight playoff meeting between these two teams begins with a Kings loss for the first time.

So very abruptly the Kings are forced to chase the series instead of forcing the Oilers to chase as was the case the past two playoff seasons.

Maybe it’s nothing. But Monday marked just the second time in 10 playoff series since McDavid came into the league that he and his Oilers have won a Game 1 in a series. In fact McDavid was asked about the Game 1 ‘curse’ Monday morning and pointed out that the only time that he and the Oilers actually won Game 1 they lost that series.

Photo by Paul Swanson/NHLI via Getty Images

That history will be meaningful only if the Kings can get back on the right side of the line between simply describing a game plan and executing it. And, at the risk of defying the rule of ‘no moral victories’ there were periods within the game that you caught a glimpse of how the Kings want things to go.

“I thought we did have some momentum in the o-zone,” Hiller said. “We were getting to the net and we had some shots. We just couldn’t stop their power play tonight for whatever reasons.”

Adrian Kempe was inclined to agree, at least regarding the special teams.

“I think we were fighting back all game,” he added. “I think that’s something we have to take with us moving forward here. We have to be better on the PK. We eliminate a couple of those penalties and don’t let them be 60% on the power play it’s more even game.”

Chief among the tasks at hand for the Kings will be the problem of trying to contain McDavid.

Hiller did some line-juggling starting early on the game when he moved Kevin Fiala up in the lineup to play with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Quinton Byfield. Later Byfield played some with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, helping set up a Kempe goal late in the second period that briefly made the score 4-2.

Did Hiller see something he liked in the different combinations that could be put into play in Game 2 on Wednesday night? Too soon to tell. But it’s not too soon to try and figure out how to slow down McDavid and his linemates Hyman and Adam Henrique.

“We have to do a better job against McDavid’s line, that’s the clear takeaway there,” Hiller said. “And that was at 5-on-5, not just on the power play. Who are the three guys that can do the job there, that’s the question for us.”

McDavid played a critical role in scuttling any chances of a magical comeback at Rogers Place by assisting on two Edmonton power-play goals in the first 6:17 of the third period to turn 4-2 to 6-2.

A byproduct of McDavid’s enormous night is the sobering fact that the Kings, who finished second in the league in penalty kill efficiency and were looking to that penalty kill prowess as a key factor in beating the Oilers, had no answer for the Oilers on the man advantage.

Two parts to that, of course.

Can a very good penalty kill unit make adjustments to fend off the manner in which the Oiler power play exploited them on Monday? That’s a priority for Hiller and his staff.

The second part to the penalty kill dilemma is to stop taking needless penalties.

“That just shot us in the foot,” Doughty said of the two Edmonton power play goals in the third. “We talked about our penalties, we talked about their power play so much before this series and yeah that shot us in the foot. They’re just so good on the power play, so let’s just smarten up in that area.”

So, here’s the thing.

Game 1 becomes a predictor of Game 2 only if the Kings allow it to be so.

Game 2 becomes its own, separate entity, a starting point if you will, if the Kings have the will to make it so.

Hiller pointed out that the Kings had a couple of stinkers during the closing part of the regular season. Games in which the team didn’t play well and after which there was disappointment in the room about how those games had unfolded.

“I’m here to tell you that every time we’ve had one of those, we’ve come back with strong efforts,” Hiller said. “We’ve been through that but we’re going to have to be much better than we were tonight, that’s very clear.”

On to the next.

Full avails 📲 https://t.co/kHpKwMR8Ev pic.twitter.com/qgbt7VmL7n

— x – LA Kings (@LAKings) April 23, 2024